Project Genesis
by Kointoss
Summary: A strange girl is given a gift she never wanted. A boy is sacrificed without even knowing it. How will these two cope with the looming trials that face them? Will they bring the world into the light,or send it into darkness? NaruxOC Naruto/Prototype xover
1. Prologue

**Chapter One: Prologue**

Blurry pictures swam before her eyes; her eyes that felt so heavy lately. She didn't know where she was, just that her mother and father had taken her to a traveling roadshow that had stopped near her village. It had a ex-shinobi in it who had somehow created three dragons out of thin air!

_That story was so awesome. _He thought as the pictures flew by in her head.

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_A man walked out, dressed in a simple green robe, with a thick black belt, wrapped around his wait and bowed on his left hip, the extra material hanging down past his knees. He smiled at his audience, which had grown from his last show. Apparently word had preceded his arrival, and gotten many people interested to see if he was worth the hype. He simply bowed and sat down on the barren stage, sitting cross-legged and, with his genjutsu enhanced voice, narrated the story, as he wove his hands about in front of his body._

"_At a time, where Earth had not come into existence yet, there were three celestial dragons. Now, whether they were drawn to each other, or just happened upon one another by pure chance, the fact is not known. But, all that matters is they met." the man had said, as he created three slightly blurry images of white, semi-transparent dragons (long serpent-like dragons, not English dragons), meeting and twirling about each other._

"_One dragon was the Dragon of Fire, very devout in his belief that his kind were the most powerful and deserved to rule the galaxy, destined to rule it with an 'Iron Fist', s to speak._

_Second, was the Dragon of Water, also very strong, but had a much more clement view of the universe; that he should rule it, in order to bring peace and stability to all the creatures who saw fit._

_The last was the Dragon of Earth, The current leader of the galaxy. He had ruled the galaxy for eons, and brought peace humility to what was once a death and disease-ridden space."_

_As he introduced each dragon, the corresponding dragon blurred and changed color, all the while twirling and spinning around the others. Finally, they broke from their tight ball and butted heads, forming a central point. After reeling from the contact, they started twisting and spinning with renewed vigor and furiously bite, tore, and slashed at each other_

"_Being the dragons that they were, they were very prideful, and sought to eliminate the others, thus securing their place in the galaxy. The three Dragons fought and fought, clashing with one another. None could gain the upper-hand, even after thousands upon thousands of years of combat. Frustrated and exhausted, the Three threw everything they had into one, final strike." The three dragons reared back from each other, the lower halves of their long, slender bodies intertwined with the other two. They struck with the others at the same time and caused a blinding flash of light, momentarily stunning the audience, who were collectively blinking their eyes,straining to see again, totally enraptured with the tale. After a minute, they all saw a ball of light, roughly the sze of a watermelon, suspended in te air a few feet above his hands_

"_However, even after the blow, none emerged the victor. What remained was a newly formed planet. One capable of sustaining life. The three most powerful beings in the universe came together and created something so precious, so fragile, that it isn't to be wasted: Life."_

_The man stood and faced addressed his audience, "For you see, thought the vast expanse that is Space, taking into account all of the millions of planets and solar systems, around each sun, there exists a small, invisible belt; a belt in which life can be sustained. And inside that belt, on a planet tat just so happens to be lucky, there are millions of organisms. And of those millions of organisms, one may be lucky enough to attain sentience: the ability to think and reason."_

_He smiled and spread his hands wide on each side of his arm, "So, friends, the next time you feel a harmful thought, or feel that an act of vengeance is required, or even that a life must be taken, remember my story. And remember how precious and rare that his or her life is, because that is the ultimate power in this universe. The power to take a life is not one to be trifled with. Do not lower yourselves to trivialities and vices; that shall only lead to yours, and possibly others' suffering. Live life to the fullest, and enjoy every second of it, because a happy and full life is becoming increasingly rare these days."_

_The man bowed his head and said his thanks. Then, he proceeded to exit the stage leaving a stunned and cheering crowd behind him._

_The little girl turned to his parents, "Wasn't that so cool!" her parents smiled at her, obviously pleased to get such a reaction. _

"_Come on, let's go see if we can find something to eat, okay?" her mother smiled._

"_Alright, food!" the little girl jumped and pumped her fist in the air._

"_Dear," the father started, "I'm going to go talk to that shinobi for a second, I'll catch up to you later okay?"_

_She smiled and told him sure thing, while taking the cheering girl off between the rows of carts in search of something very greasy and fattening._

_The girl was in her own world. Walking along, holding her mother's hand looking back and forth at each cart. She saw something she liked and let go, weaving her way through the people and reaching a stall that had some shiny toys. Turning back to her mother, he called, "Lookit this mommy, isn't it cool?" she jut smiled back at her antics, and continued walking as the little girl spotted some kind of greasy food stall on the other side. She darted over to that side calling to her mother, "This looks so good can we try some?" she just laughed and made her way towards him._

_-------_

_This process continued for about five or six more stalls before her mother started to get worried. Her daughter was getting farther and farther away from her. She couldn't keep her eyes on her for more than a second or two before losing sight of her daughter through the crowd. "Honey? Where are you?" she ran through the crowd frantically. "Where'd you go?" she yelled bumping her way through the crowd. She arrived at the spot she last saw him, but her was nowhere to be found._

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That was all he remembered. Looking at that man who was smiling at her with some very tasty looking candy before she was gripped by a sudden case of vertigo. Her stomach threatened to spill its contents as she regained his bearings. She was under the arm of a man sitting up in a tree branch.

"What are you doing, so far from your parents? Oh well, no matter, sleep now." the strange white-haired man with glasses put a hand on the girl's head and she suddenly felt so very sleepy.

And that brings her to her current predicament. _Where the hell was she? _

"I see you are awake." a metallic voice said to her. It was a man's voice. Her vision cleared somewhat and she saw a group of blurry shapes on the other side of a foggy window. She was vaguely aware that she was strapped to some sort of table; her arms and legs bound, and she was facing a wall of glass. The very little room she was in had monitors and random beeping machines behind while the other three walls were made of some sort of glass.

"W-whats going on? Where am I? What's happening?" she stammered, on the verge of tears. The shapes on the other side suddenly cleared as the glass became see-through.

There were six people. Three were in white coats. _Doctors? Is something wrong with me?_ Two women and one man. The man was very old, bordering on ancient, his raggedy white hair, thin and untidy. The two women seemed younger, maybe in their thirties, still old compared to him, who had only been alive for nine years.

One had black hair tied up into a bun. She had piercing blue eyes and a very stern look on her face. In her left hand she had a metal clipboard with many sheets of paper.

The other woman had dark brown hair that was in pigtails and went down past her shoulders. She had chocolate brown eyes, hidden behind a pair of glasses. She also looked very stern and kept giving looks at the male doctor.

The other three looked mean and tough. All three were older men. _Scary._ They all wore black uniforms with white striping. One had a red sash from his right shoulder to left hip, and the other two had black sashes.

The old man with the wispy hair, spoke again, the same metallic voice coming through some sort of speaker. "Gentlemen, I give you patient number Forty-eight. She has already been injected with substance One-One-Eight and shows none of the symptoms of the previous trials. Her cells have shown none of the mutation that the other specimens did. Gentlemen, I believe what we have been after for thirty years has finally come to fruition. I believe that the answers lie within this girl's blood." he motioned to the girl after his speech.

The man with the red sash spoke up, drawing attention, "Were there any side effects, any...complications, or something showing signs of virulent possibilities?"

The black-haired woman spoke, holding up her clipboard and reading from it. "Patient Forty-eight's blood, when combined with that of another human seem very toxic. The receiver showed mysterious symptoms, followed shortly by severe mutations. The receiver had to be put down and remains incinerated. Shortly after, Patient Forty-eight experienced heightened heart rate, and brain functions, ultimately resulting in her death. Blood samples taken before and after said death were compared and analyzed. That was when we found it." she looked up at the three men and then to the girl inside the cell. "Patient Forty-eight's blood carries within it the genetic code to regenerate not only dead cells, but to somehow absorb the mass of other cells."

The male doctor spoke up, "It was actually sort of a fluke, a mistake, if you will. Some of the tissue that was taken post-death was analyzed and combined with the tissue of another subject. Needless to say, the patient's tissue absorbed the other's tissue and altered the genetic coding inside."

"But what does this mean?" asked a man with a red sash.

"It means that Patient Forty-eight can absorb the mass of another living being and alter her own genetic code accordingly. Like, consuming a few fish, might allow her to breath underwater. Or, consuming a bloodline might cause her DNA to alter accordingly. Gentlemen; what we've got here is Evolution. Not over a span of thousands upon thousands of years, but over a course of minutes, hours, maybe days at the most. With his DNA and enough genetic matériel, we can create new medicines, eradicate entire diseases, or if your up to it, bio-engineered soldiers. We are looking at the epitome of Evolution; the things, and people we could create, would be nothing short of gods. I believe that we have actually created here a new genus of human. " the man stated obviously quite pleased with himself.

The man looked from his congregation to the girl strapped within the cell, hanging upon his every word, fearing what she had become, and what was to happen in the future. The man spoke, "That is why I have decided to call it: Project Genesis."


	2. Outbreak

I'd just like to put it out there, because I forgot to display it out in the previous chapter.

I own either Naruto or Prototype, all ideas and original characters belong to their respective creators. I did however, com up with the storyline and a few characters.

Perhaps I should explain things a little. This is more of a prototype story that has a lot of Naruto elements in it. It takes place across the ocean on another continent rife with chakra-enhanced technology. It'll crossover soon but the beginning will be staged in this other continent.

With that said, on with the story!

**---------------------**

**Chapter Two: Outbreak**

_**...six months later **_

"Marvelous...absolutely marvelous." the elder scientist spoke to everyone inside the room. He was flanked on either side by his two most trusted scientists, Mari Yatsumi, and Kinamoto Maoko. Since the Generals' visit, he had all the funding he could ever need. Locked deep within his mountain laboratory, were creatures in which God had never even thought of. Oh yes, he enjoyed this feeling; crating something with his own toils and labor and seeing it come to fruition, living and breathing in front of him. He had yet to name this creature as yet he didn't know its full capabilities.

He stood staring at the marvelous beast standing before him, the odd pinging in his ears, loud and harsh enough he felt as if his ears were going to burst, along with the dizziness and the nauseous feeling. He noticed that everything seemed to sound so far away, the screams of his two assistants behind him, who were frantically trying to get out of the observation room. _Fools, this facility is locked down. We are all dead anyway. _He barely even registered his thought as he wiped the trail of red liquid oozing down his ears. _Amazing. It must see through some kind of echolocation. It ruptured my __Tympanic__ Drums. _He was a true scientist. Standing there, facing his imminent death which was most assured withing the next few seconds or so, and here he was, still trying to learn everything he could about his creation.

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_Taken from the notes of Dr. Yamamoto Shuji, head scientist of Facility Seven._

_Date: Patient Forty-eight + five months*_

_The creature stood a good twelve feet tall, and had a purplish skin with many of its large veins visible through the skin. From what they could tell the creature had no eyes to speak of; must see through some sort of thermal vision, or some other means. The creature had also two holes reminiscent of ears on each side of its head. Its head was quite small in proportion to its body. They hypothesized that this must be a soldier, due to the small brain capacity of the creature. It also had overdeveloped jaws and jagged teeth, no lips though, which created quite a mess with its drool. It's seriously overdeveloped arms and legs spoke volumes of what it could possibly do. _

_They weren't stupid. They took every precaution. A 15'x6' room with the creature laid out on a heavily reinforced iron slab. Its arms and legs were shackled with chains reinforced with chakra seals to make them all but unbreakable. The creature had an IV in its arm pumping enough drugs to put an army to sleep for years. The creature's metabolism was extraordinarily high. They had to keep a constant flow of sedatives just to keep up. Its high metabolism showed that if ever let loose, that it would have to feed almost constantly just to keep up with the burning off of energy. Once again something they would have to ensure never happened. _

_Since the infection was spread through skin contact with the substance, as one scientist found out, thus resulting in his mutation into this creature, the use of chakra in aid of dissection was ruled out. And the scientist performing the operation had to wear one of the facility's HAZMAT suits and resort to more brutal methods, scalpels and saws. Upon dissection, they discovered that the creature had a very small brain, capable of only a minimal thought process, and reasoning skills. However, although they could not find any kind of ocular organs, the creature had a very highly developed set of ears, along with some kind of organ they had never seen before in the creature's forehead. Perhaps it was some sort of heat sensor, combined with it's ears, it would very efficient in hunting down prey. It's ability to track down its victims could possibly rival or even surpass some of the main village's Jounin Tracker teams._

_The creature was surprisingly human in most of its anatomy. It had all the basic human organs: lungs, heart, kidneys, etc... and therefore we ruled that the virus, instead of creating something new, was just improving it's host to the point of self-continuation. When we introduced new genetic materiel to the creature, the virus immediately sent to replicate itself in the new cells. Upon closer inspection of the creature's cells, we found that they are in a constant state of decay. See, when the virus replicates itself, it inject its RNA into the host cell, thus replicating itself dozens, possibly hundreds of times over. When the process is complete, the host cell ruptures, sending hundreds of new replicas of the virus into the body, repeating the process. Yet somehow, it also creates some kind of second strand of RNA to combine with another strand inside a separate host cell, it instead causes the mutation that will eventually lead to what is on the table here. The DNA has been altered at the basic level and we have theorized that, should we inject this DNA into a new host, then they themselves will become another of these creatures._

_I must go now, we are working to extract the DNA from the creature, but it's skin is so tough it is very hard to cut, and he must use two people on the wind blade to cut into the creature. _

_---------------------_

_Taken from the notes of Dr. Yamamoto Shuji, Lead Scientist of Facility Seven._

_Date: Patient Forty-eight + five months fourteen days*_

_Dammit! Those bastards on the village council somehow found out about our facility. I don't know how, but the secret got out that we were holding a child, and they got furious. From what the Generals are telling me, the council won't be able to do a thing. The Generals are going to be staging a coup very soon and are requesting that we bring one of these creatures under our heel to be used as a weapon. However sad that might make me, I have put forth my idea instead. At the expense of this facility, we'll release one creature for the military to take down. We'll have to make a more sickly creature, perhaps one of the flukes that we have created. _

_The Flukes are more humanoid in size and shape, however they are more deformed and instead of an arm, it seems that their dominant arm has been morphed into a long blade-like structure. These creatures are much more fragile and slower than their larger brethren. I plan on releasing a few dozen of them. Since the severe cutback on ninja military forces, this country has become weak. Therefore, under the guise of a military training mock-war, the civilian military will be days away from the village and therefore, unable to help. The few Shinobi that we have should be more than enough to deal with the threat of a few dozen of these Flukes. However the fear and terror that these things will create, I fear, will finally put an end to this facility. But fear not, I have copied and moved all of my research data and stored it in a secure location. Why would I do this, you ask? As a precaution. Should the Generals cross me, I have made certain arrangements to let this information leak out. It will implicate them in the coup, as well as the destruction and genocide of entire small villages. But, should the plan work, we will be moved to a much better facility._

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His eyes darted past the creature that was slowly making its way towards him to the room it had just busted from. He didn't blame the red smear on the wall that was once of his most trusted colleagues. It was a mistake, everyone made them sooner or later. Unfortunately for him, it was his last mistake, bumping the machine so that the IV popped out of the creatures arm. With the creatures newfound healing properties, the tiny hole closed up in seconds. _Such a waste that I won't be able to review the footage of its soon-to-be rampage throughout the facility. It would be such great research material. _

Suddenly a thought flew through his mind. _Oh how wonderful. I'll never get an opportunity like this again._ He thought morbidly. However, his brilliant mind suddenly coming up with the plan and executing said plan were two completely different things. With the slowly advancing creature's attention solely on him, he probably wouldn't make it the five steps it took to reach the door.

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Just his luck, one of his assistants screamed again, making a run for the door, catching the creature's attention. Withing two steps it had crossed the nine foot gap between it and his lovely assistant, and grabbed her by her waist. Ignoring her thrashing, it opened its mouth and brought her head closer. Her eyes grew wide as the two massive sets of jaws closed around her neck, decapitating her. The creature chewed a few times before swallowing and dropping her still twitching corpse on the ground in a bloody heap. It cast its sound again throughout the room, but only found one more human. It appeared that while it was consuming its first victim, that the man in the white coat has made it to the door and escaped into the facility. The creature similarly disposed of the other assistant and made its way into the facility, bursting through the door with a roar, searching for its next meal.

It cast a net of sound through the hallway, receiving a picture of the few warm bodies and the slight curving around the corner. It had found that it had quite liked the taste of the things that it had eaten from the last two, and had found itself able to think a little bit more clearly.

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Dr. Shuji ran past a set of fleeing scientists, reaching a heavy red blast door to a small computer terminal on the left wall. Quickly entering his password and voice ID, the computer stated his access being granted just as the weird ping reached his ears, sending a slight chill down his spine. He vaguely recognized the symptoms of fear, but paid no heed as they were smothered beneath the feeling of anticipation. He just hoped that he would live long enough to see them fight. _Oh, think of the possibilities! What would happen if the creature consumed Patient Forty-eight, or the other way around._ His body shook at the thought of it, almost like a kid going to the carnival. _Oh the irony..._ he thought grinning as he stole off through the blast door through another into the observation room that overlooked Patient Forty-eight.

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The creature had just disposed of a puny security force deigned to stop it by tearing one of the puny creatures in half and throwing the two pieces into two other creatures dispatching three within a second or two. It cast its sound throughout the facility, homing in on that one man. The one that had held him prisoner._ Find. Kill. Devour. Consume. _These were its thoughts as it homed in on the man. However, its hunt was cut short as it detected another of its brethren trapped inside a control room, destroying the components and killing all those inside. Not consuming, but just killing. _Wasteful._ The creature burst through the door, taking its lesser brother by surprise, and as the other was roaring at it, it grabbed a computer terminal/desk from the ground and hurled it at its brother, stunning it so the creature could get up close to it. The creature pinned its brother to the wall allowing for the respite for a few of the administrative personnel to evacuate the room, save one. A man who was too mesmerized by the spectacle to move his body. The creature had its brother pinned to the wall and proceeded to shake it violently as it seemed to try and regurgitate something. The creature suddenly vomited a sticky green liquid all over its brother, causing the other to howl in pain. The lesser creature's skin seemed to ripple where the goo touched it and the greater creature's spiked tongue shot out of it's mouth and buried itself into the neck of its brother.

The lesser creature screamed and started to ripple violently as it seemed to shrink into the other creatures tongue leaving nothing but primordial ooze on the ground there its lesser brother previously stood. The larger creature grew about another three feet, popping indicating its bones breaking and rejoining forming stronger ones. Its skin rippled as its muscles rebuilt themselves. As soon as it was finished, it roared, sending shock waves around it sending the desks and computer servers flying around the room, crushing the man who was hidden in the corner. The creature bolted out of the room, leaving cracks in the floor from its sudden change in velocity. It cast out a net of sound homing in on the man who appeared to be a few hundred meters in front of it, behind two heavy doors. Roaring again it took off at top speed, needing only a few seconds to reach the doors, throwing all it wight into it, it body slammed the door, leaving a large dent. It back up and charged again.

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The large bang resounded the room again. Dr. Shuji looked at the computer monitor showing the large creature ramming the blast door. He input his code into a keypad letting him into Patient Forty-eight's cell, aware that the experiment had awoken and eyed him the entire way from the door to the clamps that held her to the table.

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She was awake from the first roar resounding throughout the facility. She hoped whatever it was would kill her quickly and not make her suffer. She wondered if she could even suffer anymore. It never hurt when they stuck her anymore. She toyed with the idea that she was still human, but seriously, who was she kidding? What would she have to gain by lying to herself? How could she call herself human when she felt no pain, could heal from almost any wound, it seemed, and was forced to consume humans for her captors' enjoyment. Every time she closed her eyes to her tormented sleep, she saw their faces, their dreams, hopes, families. She began to lose herself in their memories. With every person they forced her to consume, she became a little different, and little more distant. She couldn't even remember her original name. If she ever survived, she would have to come up with a new name.

Then _he _came in the room. She stayed apathetic towards him, even while he unbound her. She contemplated tearing a hole through his chest, but decided to go a more subtle route. Se called upon her seldom-used vocal chords, "Why?" she rasped.

He hesitated for a minute on the last binding on her wrist, pausing to look at her face before returning to unclasping the final latch. "Don't get me wrong Forty-eight, I'm not doing this to save your life. I'm only doing this to give you a fair chance at fighting the creature that I have created for you. I want it to be recorded and this section of the laboratory has its own CCTV feed, untouched by the security office. I want the next few minutes to be recorded." seeing the look she was giving him, he continued, "Don't get me wrong here, I entertain no ideas that I shall be leaving this laboratory alive. Either you shall kill me or my other creation shall kill me. I'm doing this in the name of science, so that the next one to replace me will have ample recourses and facts to continue my research.

A loud resounding crash interrupted his speech. He looked over at the wall in which the final obstacle laid on the other side. "It will be here soon." he looked back at the girl who was now rubbing the life back into her wrists. "Who will it be, you or him? It's been about six months since I first created you. And yet look at how much you've grown. Show me what you can do. Show your father what you can do." he backed up putting her in between him and the raging tempest, hurling itself against the final blast door.

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She walked slowly away from the doctor, putting as much distance between him and the monster as possible. She wanted to be the one to consume him, not that thing. She walked out of her containment cell for the past six months and into the larger laboratory adjacent. She scanned her surroundings, getting a feel for the battlefield, when she noticed a sink on the wall to her right. It had been so long since she had seen her face, she couldn't even picture herself anymore. She walked over to the mirror above the sink, and breathed quite heavily. She had aged, a lot. In six months she had gone from being a nine-year old girl to a woman looking well into her late teens. Her once fiery red hair had grown into a duller more maroon color, matted down with sweat, dust, and blood, and reached down past her shoulder blades. She guessed her height somewhere around five feet tall, perhaps a little taller. Her large Sea Blue eyes had stayed the same throughout her ordeal, although losing the once innocent shine. Her ill-used tear ducts started to kick in when she heard the loud crash.

Looking to its source, she saw the giant blast door hurtle past the door into the end of the short hallway, causing the wall to splinter and crumble. She heard the ghastly breathing before she even saw the creature. Of course, it hadn't prepared her for the monstrosity that plowed its way through the wall, not even bothering to use the door, rather making its own.

Thinking quickly, she kicked one of the lab tables that were attached to the ground, cracking it at the bottom and sending her to her left, out of the way of the lunging beast. She picked herself up off of the ground, grabbing hold of the table and ripping it from the ground. She turned to see the beast remove itself from the giant hole in the wall and shake its head around, sending out the reverberating _BONG _of its echolocation. It perked up whipping its head around to orient itself on her location. She waited until it sent another sonar wave before sending the desk into the creature's face, momentarily stunning it. She darted towards it and grabbed hold of its arm, hoisting the stunned animal over her shoulder and through another wall. She scanned the room quickly, catching sight of scant few pointy objects to use as weapons.

She instead, dove out of the first hole in the wall, leading her into the hallway to search for something to damage the creature with. She snap-rolled to her right, narrowly dodging the charging creature. The creature reared it left arm back, momentarily flexing its claws, before lashing out at her, gouging deep furrows into the walls. She ducked underneath the first swipe, ten dodged to the side of the next, aimed to split her down the middle, and followed it up with a strong kick to the creatures chest, knocking it back onto the ground. She used this opportunity to flee around another corner scanning everything for something to battle the creature with it.

Then she saw it, a katana left useless next to the red smear that was once its owner. She dashed towards it, instinctively leaping over another swipe of the creature's large claws. She grabbed the sword and spun around slashing and hacking wildly. The creature swung at her head, smashing its hand into the wall. Without a second thought she brought her sword down with everything she had. Severing the arm completely from the forearm down.

Roaring, the creature, cast another sonar wave, and fled away down the hallway, searching for something useful, like a body or an exit. Panting and sweating from exertion, she stumbled back into the laboratory where her long-time captor lay in a growing pool of blood from a pipe impaled into his stomach.

"Go ahead, do it." he chocked out, spitting up blood.

"Do what?" she asked.

"Don't play dumb, eat me, consume me, whatever. Just get it over with. I have outlived my purpose, and with me sitting here like this, there's no reason to let me live out the next few minutes the way I am. We both know what happens when you consume a victim. I have made you do that so many times already, you aren't the same person you were when I brought you here. In hindsight, perhaps I should never have even gotten into this field. But, I've made so many discoveries, it's hard not to be proud of what I have accomplished." he smiled.

"You've ruined hundreds of lives." she deadpanned.

"True, but just think of the many thousands, hundreds of thousands, whom your blood will cure. When they finally capture you, they'll be able to create a cure-all immunization that will render every virus, bacterium, or disease extinct! And my name will go down in the history books and the man who started the research. Ah..." he coughed up blood, "well, you wanted to know who you are, by consuming me, you'll learn. Perhaps you'll be closer to finding out your true identity. So did he give you any powers? He should have definitely made you much, much stronger."

"I didn't consume him."

"You should, by consuming him your fighting ability should grow by leaps and bounds. All you need is an electrical current to begin the process. Just electrify the body and consume it immediately after, and you should be fine. With all of my creations dead..."

"I didn't kill it, it escaped." she said.

"What?" he asked, shocked and suddenly a little livelier. "That cannot happen. You must hunt him down and destroy him. Do whatever it takes, he cannot be allowed to roam the land free. I will not have my name besmirched by the ravenous escapades of one of my children. I know I am to blame for this as well, seeing as how I created him, but it is only his nature, as is yours. You may chose not to believe this, but after I saw what I had created in him, I began to hope that, should they ever escape, you would be trained enough to be let loose upon them. I know you'll make me proud, my daughter. Hmph...weird that a little girl that I had kidnapped ended up becoming more of a daughter than the two that I had at home." he coughed up more blood. "Now, hurry before what's left of my life slips away."

She nodded, more to herself than in recognition of his final command. She held up her right hand, calling forth her power, causing the skin to ripple on her palm, and a two small red and black colored tendrils to emerge. She thrust her palm into the doctors chest, plunging the two snake-like appendages into his chest, injecting her enzymes, breaking down his cellular make-up. His body melted into her palm and the same red and black ripples to course over her body. The memories of the doctor assaulted her mind. When she opened her eyes, she knew what she had to do. Grabbing a defibrillator kit from a box on the wall, she charged it on her way out of the laboratory to the part of the creature's arm. The creature, in its haste, left her a very powerful weapon, one she wouldn't need to be told twice to use. She sent the electric shock into the appendage, and summarily consumed it as well.

She felt a wave of emotions hit her, much of anger and pain and hunger, but she also felt a wave of power encompass her. It was almost as if she could do anything now. Her hands suddenly felt different, and upon inspecting them, she noticed that her arms had turned black with extremely long, razor-sharp claws sprouted, flowing into her arm, turning it black as well as numerous black spikes up each arm. She flexed her new weapons, slashing the wall, testing them and leaving four very large gouges in the stone.

She searched her new memories, remembering the way out. Leaping through the remains of the two blast doors, she hung an immediate left down a side corridor leading to the main hallway. Reaching the corner, she hung against the wall, peering around to see a dozen escapees.

These didn't look too tough, though. They were the ones that the doctor had called "Flukes," human-sized creatures, bulbous and morphed by the virus into bloated, hideous creatures. In place of their dominant arm was a sharpened blade, reaching from their armpit all the way to where they used to have a hand. The Flukes were currently in the business of slaughtering everyone in the hallway, not that she mind, anyways. These were the people that kept her in captivity, experimented on her, cut her, hurt her. She had no qualms in them dying, in fact she might just help out. She wasn't aiming for them, just the horrid, mutated creatures standing in her way.

Despite everything that these people had done to her, that still didn't justify unleashing the virus upon the world. So, she would so what she was apparently designed to do, kill. She figured that hunting down and destroying all these creatures was the only was for her to really justify herself. Seriously, what else was she good for? Her condition ensured that she may never have a normal life again, how could she, when she was afraid of eating the person's body and mind right there?

Then again there was the hunger. The hunger to learn more, to know more, to understand everything. With each new body she consumed, more thoughts flooded her mind, allowing her to see the real truth behind more things. Understand causality, the butterfly effect, how things tick. She reveled in the thought that she could kill anyone, anything, and somehow come out for the better. She didn't even know if she could die like a normal person should.

She thought of these things as she came into view of the main doors, the hallway behind her bloody and dripping with gore. Completely ignoring the bloody hand print , she confidently strode out of the sliding doors, the one on the right side sticking to its tracks halfway through the cycle. She tightened her fist, remembering the feel of the claws as they completely obliterated her hand and arm. Oddly enough, she wanted to test them more, see what they could actually do. She wondered what she could slice into: flesh? Check. Walls? Check. Armored hide? Check. What else could they actually do? She desired to know more, no she _hungered _for more. She grabbed her head as she fought off the recent headache that she had begun to associate with an attack on her psyche.

She absently thought of her used-to-be parents, and how they were feeling. What is she went to her old home and saw them, what would they do? Welcome her with open arms? Hug her, love her? Or would they even recognize her, due to her fantastic growth? Or would they shun her, call her a monster for what she could do; what she _had_ done?

After all, what person in their right mind could grow giant claws, devour memories and bodies, and still call themselves human?

---------------------------------------------------------------

*: on the dating system, the way I'm doing it is like from WW2: D-Day+7, D-Day+24, etc...

**: if any of you guys have seen Heroes, I realize I'm making her a bit like Syler, and am kind of deviating from the actual Prototype Canon (if that's even possible), but I believe it adds in another level, and makes it more fun to write. Seriously, CAN you call yourself human if you could do what she could do?

***: Note that not everybody died who was at the facility, just everyone who happened to cross paths with her or any of the infected.


	3. Oskar

**Chapter 3: ****Oskar**

Naruto tore into another tree. That made number 150. He panted slightly, glancing around the small clearing that he had made. Well, maybe it wasn't small, or a clearing, but the gap in the trees that he had created were littered with the fallen remains of the once proud forest. His training in controlling the demon's power was still limited. No matter how long he trained, no matter how long he used the fox's chakra, it still had the same negative effects on his body: Numbness, uncontrolled spasms, and the severe burns and pains. It all seemed localized to wherever he was focusing the power. In his mind flashed a memory of his arm going numb on him and started to twitch.

He sighed, deciding to call it a day. The sun was setting and he needed to get back to town and eat. His stomach rumbled in agreement. He picked up his black and orange jacket. He sighed to himself as he recalled his "mission." He was to go on a six month long training mission. He would basically be on his own, which confused him to no end, he thought that Jiraiya would at least come with him, seeing as how he has supposed to be learning to control the fox's chakra to the point to where it was no longer poisonous to his body. When asked about his teacher, Tsunade just looked slightly distraught. She turned away from him, looking through the window behind her to the village beyond, stating, "He is on a mission right now and won't be back for a long while."

This naturally pissed off the young Jinchuuriki. That bastard should have had the decency to at least see him off, or let him know. After all, who could he turn to since he was trying to infuse his rasengan with his wind element? And what about Akatsuki, once again his fears were brushed off. _"Don't worry about them," she had said "They've gone underground and haven't moved for three months now. Granted, if you see them, run. But, try not to worry about them so much. _

So here he was, in the land of Waves, two weeks into his mission. Had anyone asked what he was doing there, he would have simply stated, "I'm training to get stronger." But that wasn't his real motive. Sure, he was going to keep training, but in truth, he was trying to track down his wayward sensei. The last guy he talked to said that his sensei had bragged about meeting some kind of scientist here, something about a ground-breaking discovery that could revolutionize the ninja world as they knew it.

Naruto crested the hill that he had been scaling for the past few minutes. _That bastard needs to keep his drunken mouth shut. He blabs so much in bars and brothels that the information from his spy network goes straight from him, to every woman that happens to be a looker, and latches onto his arm. A couple of shots of sake and a lot of doors open up in that guy's mind. Even I'm not that irresponsible._ He looked in front of him to the town that lay in front of him.

He didn't know the name of the place, just kind of showed up one day after training. He figured he was hungry and just followed his nose; the Nose knows, anyway. It wasn't a bustling city, more like a sleepy hamlet, set in a slight U shape around the delta in which it sat. The black ocean stretched on to infinity. There were only about a dozen buildings that made up the actual town. In fact, the only way you could tell that the town was really there was the ship that was docked in its harbor, and the scant few lights that lit the wooden structures that were the warehouses. If the town has a little horseshoe, then the center of the arc sat on a little hill, with each side tapering down to be the harbor. One side had a little bridge that ran over the river that bisected the town. He rubbed his sore shoulder as he made his decent into the town.

He unlocked the door to the small apartment that he had rented out for the month.  
It wasn't much, but then again he was used to that. Being the pariah of Konoha had tempered him against all of the comforts that most would take for granted. His little one room, one bathroom apartment sat atop a weapon shop. The stairs that he needed to take were position towards the back of the shop. He figured that it was at least semi-hidden, and there was a window that looked right onto the street out in front of the shop.

He took his shoes off at the door and flopped down on the mattress, completely forgetting about the gnawing hunger residing in his belly. He was just so _bored._ He didn't have anyone to teach him any new jutsu, nor did he have any progress with his own personal one that he had been trying to create. There were no missions to take, hell he was _on_ a mission. _Yeah, a mission to keep hidden._ Not to say that he didn't trust his Hokage, he just figured that there was something that she wasn't telling him, something connecting Jiraiya to the sudden reclusion of Akatsuki. The only thing that he could come up with concerning that was that Jiraiya was on a mission to attack and cripple, or defeat Akatsuki; which made Naruto all the more eager to find his teacher.

His Hokage wouldn't dare send him on a mission alone, no. She was sending Yamato along with Naruto to help control the beast, should he ever get out of control; however, they had an altercation just after they reached the edges of Fire Country. Apparently, Iwa had found out an extremely important secret about his heritage that even he was not privy to. Oh, how he would have words with his sensei and Hokage later. During the scuffle, the Iwa Nin called him Namikaze. _Crazy world huh; his village's most outcast and hated person: son of their most beloved Hokage._ He thought bitterly. _Oh, how that tables have turned. The looks on their faces when they find out; it will be priceless._

Suddenly motivated to go try his luck again at locating his sensei, he put his shoes back on, pausing only to change out of his training shirt, something that looked more and more like he had spent eight years fighting for his life in the Forest of Death. He locked his door behind him, and made his way down to the harbor. Being a fishing village, there were very likely stories and tales abound inside the seaside bar, not to mention the recent influx of sailors from that large ship docked in the bay.

He walked into the bar and sat down towards one side. He swept the place with his eyes. As usual, Mina was working tonight. Her midnight-black hair fell past her shoulders straightly, and her dark blue eyes had dulled over her experienced life. She wasn't an overly pretty girl, but she was no doubt a looker. She worked this job to support herself and her illegitimate child, the product of a midnight raping. Despite her loathing for the man, she still sees the baby as part of herself and vowed to bring up her little girl like a proper lady. Naruto noticed the little girl dancing around in one of the back rooms with one of her few dolls.

At the opposite end of the bar was Kirostato, a down-on-his-luck fisherman. His white hair was cut short around his head, and showed signs of balding. His dark brown eyes were hard and stony as his face was. Naruto noticed that he looked like he hadn't shaven in a few days. Naruto had heard that his fishing boat, which was quite large, about 30 feet, was sunk by a storm a few weeks back, smashing it against the reef in the bay. This was one of the reasons that the large ship was anchored a few hundred meters away from the docks, and everything had to be ferried in by barge. The older man was nursing a drink when he noticed Naruto sit down.

"Naruto, my boy; c'mere and let's have a talk see." He gestured widely to get Naruto to sit next to him.

Naruto gave him a half-smile, not very interested in talking with the old man, but hey, he'd humor him. He didn't really have anything better to do. There weren't very many people in the bar, other than the group of regulars who were busy creating a smoke cloud at a table in the corner while playing some kind of card game.

He sat down next to the older man, and spoke to Mina, "I'll have two of whatever he's having." When he had first walked into the bar a few weeks ago and ordered a drink, she just gave him a disproving look, and gestured to a sign that stated: _Only Ninjas and Civilians 21 or older are authorized to consume alcohol on these premises. _She relented though, seeing his Hita-ite strapped around his right bicep. That still didn't stop the looks she gave him every time he ordered something.

"Ah, going to drown your sorrows away, just like me, eh?" the elder man crooned; obviously he had started early this night, and was swaying on his stool, gesturing wildly.

"Not a chance old man. One is for you." He gave the old man a lopsided grin. He was rewarded with a hearty pat on the back.

"Ahaha, Naruto, m'boy, sometimes I really wish that I had a son just like you. He would be the best son ever." The man said with a faraway look in his eyes. At least, until his drink came, in which he gulped it down eagerly.

"So… what's up, old man?" Naruto asked as he leaned in a little closer, forcing himself not to wrinkle his nose at the stench of alcohol coming off the man in waves.

"Aha, who is your favorite uncle, huh? I heard…" the old man started, his eyes got a sort of dazed look in them as his pupils dilated. This happened for about five seconds, before Naruto slapped the guy on the shoulder to get his attention again "… that there is some kind of plague across the ocean."

"And what the hell does that have to do with me?"

"Ssshh," the man shushed and looked around to see if anybody was paying attention, "I heard it from a guy, who heard it from _his_ girlfriend, who had heard it from_ her _friend, whose _brother_ works in the Department of Foreign Exchange in Hidden Mist. The reason that the Seven Swordsmen have such great swords: they have superior technology from across the ocean." He stated waving his hand mystically out in front of his face, as if he were telling a ghost story.

"And you expect me to believe this drivel?" Naruto spat.

"But, it's true, M'boy. I heard that across the ocean to the east lies a continent, not unlike this one. And the people there use chakra, not unlike us; _however_, they use chakra to _enhance_ their machines and science, rather than jutsu. I _heard_ that the Hidden Mist has put a trade embargo on that place because there was an '_incident'" _he quoted with his fingers,_ "_at one of their main harbors. They said everyone had to be quarantined and slaughtered. Pretty graphic, huh?"

Naruto was surprised that this guy could talk so coherently when he was so obviously drunk he should be puking out behind the bar. Not to mention, Naruto could barely keep interested in the story with the man waving about and gesturing quite flamboyantly with his hands and accentuation almost every other word. He did however think about the man's story. "Okay, old man, again: What does this have to do with me?"

"I heard that the government over there is having massive trouble keeping the plague contained. _Apparently,_ the disease has stabilized enough so that there isn't wonton infection, but I hear that the infection is smart, like some kind of being, ya know? They've begun to hire mercenary groups and private armies to help contain it. They've even scrapped their long-standing nonmilitary pact with Hidden Mist and are requesting ninja to help curb this stuff. Unfortunately, the guy's, girlfriend's, friend's, brother who works in the Department of Foreign Exchange in Hidden Mist, says that the Mizukage is extorting them for gold or jutsu, and they aren't paying. So I thought, you're looking for something to do. I mean look at you; you've gotta be more than just a fisherman looking for a place to start up. You don't have a fisherman's hands boy, and trust me, being a man of the sea for over sixty years I can tell another of my type, and you just ain't got it." The man took another gulp of his drink, pausing to order another "You've got a hunter's eyes; too good for the likes of us. So, I figure, this guy is following this supposed lead for some kind of work."

"Are you sure you heard all of this correctly?" Naruto questioned Kirosato's dubious story.

"Of course; what do you take me for, some kind of drunken lout? These courses are golden, boy." He slapped Naruto on the back.

Naruto hummed and paid his tab. "Well, thanks for the information old man. I'll just be going then."

"Wait, M'boy, I've got one last thing to tell you. Apparently the plague creates these monsters, some sort of mutation; I don't know what they look like, or what they can do, but I know that they are slaughtering everything they come across. This land is filled with death and destruction, and they need whatever help they can get; since Hidden Mist isn't openly helping them, there are factions who wish for trade to resume, and to get on more friendly terms." He paused taking another drink before taking a breath to continue, however Naruto cut him off.

"Wait a sec, do you think I'm dumb or something?"

"Huh?" was the intelligent response.

"You are an agent of one of these groups aren't you? That's why you're so informed on whatever is going on." He said as he stood up to leave.

"Wait, wait." The man stopped him "It's true, I am one of those agents, you always struck me as a strong sort, willing to help others."

"How do you know that?"

"I've seen the way you look at Mina-san. You pity her situation with her child, you wish you could help, but you can't; you're on some sort of mission although, I don't know what for; there's nothing around here that is exciting except me, and judging by your reaction, you've only just figured out what I am, so I am obviously not your objective, ninja. My point is, "he continued seeing Naruto's expression telling him to get on with it, "is that they need your help, and Mist cannot be seen as catering to the weak. Perhaps Konoha would, but the plague is spreading at a rapid rate. There are rumors f creatures, twice the size of a bear, able to life twenty men and throw them as if they were rag dolls. People say they reek of death and eat their victims alive. They spread the disease like a wildfire on an arid plain in the summer. They need help. Will you help save them?"

Naruto stared at the man for a few seconds and sighed, "Damn me and my conscience."

------------------

For the third time in the past hour, Naruto emptied his already-empty stomach over the railing of the ship. "Ugh" He groaned. It wasn't until the ship had actually made it outside of the sheltering reefs that encircled the harbor that it finally occurred to him that he had the sea legs of an elephant. Even though it was a steamship, and it didn't rock so much, he could still feel it tipping back and for, back and forth.

"Heh, don't worry, you'll get your sea legs yet, boy" laughed a voice from Naruto's left.

Naruto turned his head and glare at the speaker: the most oddly dressed man he'd ever seen. He wore some kind of grey-and-black camouflaged top and bottom, heavy black boots and fingerless gloves. The man wore no Hita-ite, or any kind of national marker. He had knee and elbow pads. His belt was adorned with, what Naruto surmise as equipment pouches encircling his entire waist; and he carried the weirdest looking axe that Naruto had ever seen.

"That's one crazy axe you have there, how do you use it?" he asked.

The man looked at him like he had grown a second head. "'Axe', oh you mean my rifle!" he brought his weapon up for closer inspection "I take it you've never even seen one of these in on your continent. Well, then without any further ado, I give you the M-113 Assault Rifle*. It is a gas-powered magazine fed, air-cooled lightweight semi-auto/full-auto machine gun. Accurate up to 550 meters and able to kill 30 grown men without ever having to reload." He leaned in a little closer, "More if you can get 'em to line up correctly."

"How do you use one of those?" Naruto asked.

"Simple practice m'boy; you're a ninja right? All you gotta do is run chakra up the grip and into the action," he explained pointing out the parts as he named them, "Then pull the trigger, and your bullets do even more damage than your normal ones. Kind of like the way you ninja enhance your weapons' edges, we just enhance our bullets." Naruto nodded, making his understanding clear.

"Mhm. Well I'll just stick to good old kunai." He smirked as he twirled out a kunai on his fingers.

"Mhm, mhm; that's all well and good, but how do you expect to kill one of the Jötunn with that little thing? Hell, it takes us several magazines just to take out one of them, and at the rate that they mature and pop out of their sacs, it just doesn't look too good for us. Speaking of which, how are you going to get close enough to one of them without infecting yourself?"

"Infecting myself?"

"Yea, the closer you get to one of their hives, the more at risk of infection is. You can get it by fluid transfer, or if you're close enough, just by inhaling the stuff. We've only destroyed one, and that was with all the heavy artillery we had." Naruto just gave the man a deadpanned look. "Don't worry boy, you'll just figure it out eventually; or you'll die trying. Even worse, you'll turn, and then I'll have to kill you myself." He looked at his left wrist to a little circular object strapped to it. "Well, look at the time. I've gotta get going; I've gotta do some target practice tomorrow while we're out at open sea before we hit the mainland." He turned, throwing his weapon over his shoulder, heading for the lower decks.

"Hey," he called, causing the man to turn around "what your name, mister?"

"But isn't it proper to give your name and rank first?"

Naruto smiled, "Of course. Uzumaki Naruto, Genin and Future Hokage of Konoha no Sato." He yelled saluting. The man just smiled and reciprocated.

"Oskar Suno, Senior Sergeant, First class of the Third Northern Army of Swadia" He performed a smart salute, executed an about face and marched off below decks.

Naruto hummed, "What an odd man." The ship gave a rather nasty lurch and caused Naruto's bile to rise up again. "Oh no…" he groaned and turned back towards the railing hoping that they would make it soon.


	4. Asketorp

**Chapter 4: Asketorp**

He was amazed. He had never seen such a village before. Buildings jutted into the sky by the dozens. The afternoon sun hit them, causing shadows to stretch out into the harbor. He had never seen buildings on such a scale, not to mention that the footprint of the city must be miles and miles wide. As the large ship steamed into the harbor, it was immediately set upon by smaller boats, pushing it left and right to line up with the long pier. About half an hour later, when the ship was about 100 yards from the pier, Oskar showed up on deck right next to Naruto.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Oskar asked and upon seeing Naruto's nod, he continued. "Welcome to New Haven, one of the last places that hasn't been overrun with infection. This city has stood for over 300 years, and it will be here long after we die of old age. We won't let it fall to those abominations." He said fisting his hand in front of his chest while looking over the city.

The ship bumped a little as it touched with the pier. The gangplank was lain across the water onto the dock and Naruto and Oskar stepped foot on the pier. Naruto was hit with a wave of nausea and steadied himself on one of the many crates that littered the ground. Oskar laughed, "Ha-ha, don't worry m'boy, I still get a little woozy after stepping on land after such a long time at sea; even though we were just out for three days. Just means you've got your sea-legs, that's all." He clapped Naruto on the back. "Anyways, just stick with me and you'll be alright. The city has been placed under Martial Law, so you'll need papers identifying that you are who you say you are, everywhere you go." Naruto nodded and followed Oskar down the pier and out onto the street.

"This village…how many people are in it?" he asked, quite subdued at the monstrosity of a village.

"Well last I heard it had around nine million people, give or take quite a few. But, lately we've had an influx of refugees to boost that number up to around fifteen million."

"Fifteen million…" Naruto breathed. "In my village we have around ten-thousand."

"Really? Well, don't feel too overwhelmed, I came from a town of around five-hundred. Now come on, we need to head for the Annex Depot." He gestured to a separated area that had rows of boxes on wheels.

"What are those?" Naruto asked, pointing to the strange things.

"Huh?" Oskar looked over his right shoulder to give Naruto an incredulous look. "You mean you don't have any vehicles over there?" he seemed to catch himself, "Oh right, the only tech that y'all have are trains."

"Trains? Oh right I've seen one of those." He shoved his hands in his pants pockets and looked off to the side, huffing, and muttered "Almost got squished like a bug."

Oskar threw his head back and laughed heartily, "Yea they'll do that to you if you get in their way. Anyways, we're here." He motioned to the guards who snapped to attention as Oskar walked up. He saluted them and asked where the Transportation Depot was. They told him, and he and Naruto were off again to procure a vehicle. "These are Humvees, our lightest means of transportation. We have larger vehicles that are used for fighting, such as the Bradley. They can't take as much punishment, but they sure can deal out a lot of carnage." He motioned to the smaller vehicles lined up with a smaller dome on top and a box on the side. "And then we have our Tanks." He motioned to larger vehicles almost three times Naruto's height with a bowl-shaped thing on top and had something sticking about ten feet out of it. He looked back to Naruto who was still slightly shocked. He motioned for Naruto to follow. "Come on, everyone should be assembled by now. We'll grab ourselves a helicopter. HQ is on the other side of the island and it'll be quicker to fly there."

Naruto's head whipped back to Oskar; "'Fly'?" Naruto was already starting to feel uneasy.

What had started out as the absolute worst, most nauseous and terrifying thing he'd ever experienced, soon turned out to be the most exhilarating. The pilot had taken to weaving in and out of the buildings, giving Naruto a basic view on what the capabilities for the "Blackhawk," as Oskar had named it, and Naruto immediately decided that he was going to learn to fly one of the machines the first chance he got.

He couldn't wait to tell everyone back home about what he was experiencing. He was having the time of his life. Of course, this could have been made all the better, had Naruto missed the looks the ninja from Iwa kept sending him. Almost as if he was familiar, but the Nin couldn't place him. However, this went largely ignored by Naruto who was having too much fun hanging halfway out of the chopper, imitating the door gunner who was looking slightly perturbed about something. Naruto didn't even notice the smell until a crow almost smacked him in the face.

The putrid stench hit him like ton of bricks. His bile suddenly resurfacing, he slapped his hand over his face. "What the hell is that smell?" he yelled to anyone who cared to answer.

"No need to yell, boy." Oskar said "the microphone in your headset can pick up your voice quite clearly. But, to answer your question: That" he pointed out his window to his left, "is what the stench is." He pointed out of his side of the chopper. Naruto made his way to the other side, being careful not to bump into any of the other Nin, most of who were also trying to get a peek.

Boy did he get an eyeful. Explosions rocked the streets a few hundred feet below him. The smoke trails crisscrossed back and forth, reminding him of those fireworks on the day he hated most of the year, October 10th. At Oskar's order, the pilot lowered the flying vessel to around one hundred feet, as to give the ninja a better idea at what they would be fighting against.

The creatures moved far faster than Naruto had originally planned. They seemed to hit harder than Baa-Chan too, seeing as how whenever they threw themselves into one of the "tanks" it rocked back and was left with a rather large dent in its side or roof. The ground almost looked like water; everything was moving and writhing around. People were screaming and running in terror, other zombie-like creatures were hobbling after them, and these giant beasts were attacking anything and everything in the area around a building that Naruto thought someone had taken a giant sneeze on it. It had large sacs hanging off of its side, and some were rupturing, giving birth to even more of the hideous creatures. Tanks had lined up about a hundred yards off to one side and were pouring fire into the building, tearing massive holes in the structure and drawing the attention of nearly every creature to them.

In a scant few minutes the tanks had been summarily dismantled, leaving just the ground troops and a couple of Bradleys. Naruto felt the chakra spike next to him and one of his companions formed seals, "**Katon: Karyuu Endan." **

The dragon, while a little distorted at first from the down draft of the rotors, roared down onto the street, incinerating much of the creatures down there, as well as setting the building aflame.

"You idiot," one of the ninja rebuked "now you've gone and gotten their attention!" As if to prove his point the pilot yelped and pulled up sharply, narrowly missing a large slab of concrete.

"Oh shit! Let's get the fuck out of here!" one of the pilots called as he tried to sharply pull up and out of the danger area. Naruto grabbed onto one of the Pilot-dubbed "Oh-Shit Handles" and peered out the open door at the creatures below. To his alarm, they were leaping up the buildings at a much faster rate than the helicopter.

"Uh, pilot?"

"Eh?" was the strangled response.

"You'd better hurry up, they're getting closer; THEY'RE GETTING CLOSER!" he yelled frantically as his grip tightened on the bar, causing it to bend under the pressure." From somewhere in the crew cabin he heard someone call "incoming."

The Blackhawk was just cresting the top of the buildings as the creature, the "Jötunn," slammed into the bottom-left of the aircraft, lurching it in the opposite direction and flinging two of the unfortunate and unprepared men out of the other side, they're bodies causing the other Jötunn to cease their assault on the helicopter and dive after the screaming men careening to their deaths.

"You Sons-a-Bitches!" Oskar so eloquently called out as he chattered away at them from the door gun. After he emptied his can of ammo, he turned to Naruto, "I hate those Fucks. They never play fair, always with the maiming and eating. Soon, m'boy, soon we'll wave our chance at striking back at them."

"T-that thing was scary!" One of the other nin, an Iwa Missing-Nin, called out. "How are we supposed to fight those things without touching them? This whole mission is suicide."

Oskar shook his head and looked out over the city to the giant flat-topped ship in the water miles away. "I'm not sure. But then again, my tactical expertise is limited to blowing up the whole building with missiles and keep doing that until they're all dead." He looked back at the 4 ninja who reciprocated; "However, that's why we have you: to augment our strength. If you are all as strong as the legends say, then you really should have no worries." He stated noting each of the looks on their faces; apprehension, eagerness, contemplative, and slightly fearful. "Although I'm sure the eggheads will have come up with a way to combat the virus by now. This war has been going on for about half a year now..." he trailed off.

"Sir" the pilot interjected, "we're approximately three minutes out from HQ."

"Okay, thanks." He replied "Look, when we touch down, just follow my lead. I'll do the talking. Don't speak unless you're spoken to; don't want anyone causing an international incident. Just remember that you're ambassadors for your country."

The helicopter descended, landing on top of the large building that served as the army's main command station. As Naruto stepped out, he took in his surroundings. To his back was the water, with that ever-present, huge flat-topped ship. To his front there was a large park with a statue in the center. Encircling the statue were smaller roads, and travelling around those roads were more soldiers who looked to be garbed in the same -in Naruto's opinion- cool-as-shit camouflage that Oskar wore. He also saw a few "tanks" sitting farther away towards the road.

Oskar led the group of Nin down the stairwell to a room with a large oval table in the center of it. On the table there was a small square computer and another small box, which Naruto could not decipher what it was. There was a pitcher of water and small notepads and pencils. The wall directly to Naruto's eleven o'clock was windowed to show the ocean. A man dressed in a camouflage similar to Oskar's stood at the head of the table, to Naruto's one o'clock, with a large white screen behind him. Oskar took his position at the man's right side, as the shinobi filtered in and stood behind a chair each.

"Gentlemen; May I present General Asketorp, and Doctor Rut Havsdotter." He gestured to the man. Naruto eyed them. He had short, clipped white hair which sat atop a wrinkled face beset with deep age-lines. His deep-set blue eyes spoke of the experience that he has seen in combat and the scar running from his right jawline up through his scalp only proved to validate that fact. His uniform, while like Oskar's, looked to be a bit for formal; it lacked the body armor and he had black badges on his left breast while 3 stars sat on each shoulder. On his right breast there was a white dragon with two black axes crossing in front of it. "He is the highest in command in this city and is charged with eradicating the Jötunn from our lands. From now on I will translate what he is saying directly." He turned and spoke in a low tone to the general for what Naruto believed was a few short sentences. The general spoke.

"_I am very glad that you could make to my home. We are deeply honored that such fierce warriors can find the courage to fight alongside of us. Please have a seat. Well, as Sargent Suno has already stated, I am Commanding General Lorenz Asketorp, and I am in charge of this city. For a brief history of myself, I have been a warrior for the past forty-nine years. I am sixty-six years old and I plan on being a warrior until the day I die. Never in all my years have I seen creatures such as these." _He took a slight pause and looked over to his left hand, which was placed on the back of his chair, then back to the assorted men._ "Before I continue, there is something we must get out of the way first. Before I turn on the projector and start your In-brief_,_ are there any who wish to leave? If you do, then now is the time," _a pause._ "Let it be known right now, that you are all in this to the death. We have been very secretive about our weapons and capabilities to your lands, and will continue to do such until you have proven yourself trustworthy in my eyes. There will be no backing out halfway down the road. We are faced with an all-or-nothing bet and I will see this through to the end._" He gave them a minute to think it over before breaking out into a smile and laughing, "Ha_! I thought you all looked like strong men; except you." _He pointed to Naruto_. "You know I wasn't much older than you when I joined up."_

"Well, I've been a soldier ever since I was twelve, and I'm celebrated among my fellow warriors as one of the strongest in my village. It won't be too long before I am capable of leading my fellow soldiers in battle, and eventually, become the leader of my village." _Thank god for Ero-sennin pounding manners into my head. _Oskar translated and Naruto was receiving varying looks. If anything the Iwa-nin's look sharpened at the blonde.

"_Well then, let me say that I look forward to seeing your skills on the battlefield." _Asketorp said with a slightly dubious look. "_Back to the matter at hand; let me introduce you to our enemy." _He clicked a little device and an image sprung up of the wall.

"_That's _what we have to fight?" One of the ninja questioned; Naruto identified him as a Kumo ninja. "She can't be more than sixteen years old!"

"_However true that may be, make no mistake that she is probably the most dangerous thing ever to walk this planet. She was part the research project designed to create a general vaccine for any and all ailments. However, we created something else. Patient Forty-Eight, or what our soldiers have dubbed "Loki" has many abilities that make her our top priority in elimination. Her abilities include: regeneration, absorption, supper-speed, the ability to climb walls, fall from hundreds of feet without a scratch, shape shifting - and when I say that, I mean the ability to turn her hands into giant claws, ar blades, or giant sock-like fists. She can also transform into any human she touches._

"When you say 'absorption,' how is the process done?" a nin from Suna asked.

"_Form what we have learned from the footage when they escaped, the scientists said that she 'injects' an enzyme to break down the cellular structure to absorb the biomass of the victim.'"_ He read from his notes on the table. _"They also said that at some point through the process, she is able to gain their memories and impersonate them perfectly."_

The Suna-nin questioned, "So, when you say she can impersonate anyone perfectly, then you really don't know where or who she really is. If she has absorbed numerous people, then she could be anyone. She could have even breached this facility."

"_Yes, that is a possibility that we have deduced; however not one we have not planned for. We have sentries stationed at various points in this and many other strategic points throughout the city that are sensitive to her specific brainwaves. If she comes within a certain range of our facilities we can detect her by her thoughts and by the infection within her body. But, you shall get a further briefing on her later. This meeting was originally planned to give you an overview of the enemies you will be facing. You do not know our customs and our methods of operation, so we cannot expect you to be able to locate her within a crowd; we are going to teach you how to defeat the Jötunn and the Flukes, as well as the other sub-species. I shall leave the technicalities to the professionals. Doctor Havsdotter will brief you further." _He sat down and the occupant in the seat to his right stood. She looked to be around her late forties and wore a white lab coat over a dark shirt and a tight skirt that ran down to her shins. She had blonde hair done up in a bun and dark-blue eyes.

"Hello and thank you for coming to aid us. My name is Rut Havsdotter, and I am the Head of Research for Project Genesis. I took over from the previous Head after the accident that released the virus." She spoke in heavily and oddly accented Japanese.

"So it's a virus now; not just creatures?" the cloud-nin asked.

"Yes. The virus strain that has been dubbed the Jäkel Strain is introduced," she clicked the slide showing the process of mutation "and it immediately reorganizes and reengineers the DNA to something more suitable to its purposes. It alters the genetic makeup of its host for self-preservation. We have determined that only a select few sub-strains are capable of injecting and replication themselves inside of new hosts. The others must be incubated and hatched, like birds."

Asketorp cleared his throat and stood. _"As informative as this is, it is late. Perhaps you should retire for the evening. Tomorrow we shall continue with the briefing as well as squad placements. Sergeant Suno here should show you to your rooms." _Oskar translated. The nin stood as the general left.

"Then, if you'll follow me." Oskar strode out of the exit of the room. He took them into a wing where there were no occupants. "Now you will be sharing a room with one other. He divided them up into pairs and put Naruto with a man who seemed to be in his early thirties. The man had already white hair, despite his young age. Underneath his Rain forehead protector, he had deep green eyes and wore a black shirt with a white coat over it with a Caduceus on the left breast and black pants with dark blue ninja sandals. On his right wrist there was some sort of storage seal that had the kanji for "Scalpel" on the top.

"So are you some sort of doctor?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. I have trained for over twenty years in the medical arts, becoming one of the foremost doctors in my land. That is all I will say. Now about you; despite how young you are, you have been sent on this mission by your Hokage. I will have you tell me of your fighting style, so I may better prepare my works."

_Well, isn't he the epitome of politeness._ Naruto thought sourly. "Well I'm a close-range fighter and I specialize in using high-powered jutsu and large-scale combat. What is your name?"

"Noguchi Hideyo. I am an expert on viruses, snake poisons and various toxins. There; our introductions are over with; now I suggest we sleep. I believe tomorrow will be a trying day." And with that he went inside their room and into his bedroom.

"Yeah, good night to you too." Naruto soon followed and went into his Spartan room which consisted of a bed, three-drawer dresser, and a mirror. After setting his stuff out he crawled into bed and fell into a sleep fraught with nightmares of his home.


End file.
